Existentialism appeared in the 19th and 20th centuries as an attempt to “solve the problem of a naturalism that led to nihilism” (108). In the view of Albert Camus, the purpose of existentialism is to transcend nihilistic despair. The mood of frustration and despair following the devastation of World Wars I and II encouraged the growth of existentialism, which became a major intellectual trend by the 1950s and continued to influence contemporary society.

However, existentialism is a complex and multifaceted movement. Sire discerns two basic forms of existentialism: atheistic and theistic. These two branches are “siblings in style though not in content” and originated in different periods and milieus (133). Although they share many preoccupations and concerns, the two types of existentialism come to very different answers and conclusions.

Atheistic existentialism

Atheistic existentialism is above all associated with the 20th-century French philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. This form of existentialism accepts the basic convictions of naturalism about prime reality, death, knowledge, ethics, and history. Where atheistic existentialism differs from naturalism is in what it says about humanity’s relationship to the cosmos and how we can “be significant in an otherwise insignificant world” (109).